PIKEVILLE — After a lopsided victory in its playoff opener, it took Jacksonville to the final match to pull out a 37-33 win over Rocky Mount on Tuesday night to advance to the third round of the NCHSAA 3-A dual team wrestling playoffs.

The Cardinals (16-6), the No. 2 seed out of the Coastal Conference, opened the night with a 49-18 win over Currituck (18-6) but it came down to the 106-pound class for Jacksonville to defeat Rocky Mount (34-7), which beat C.B. Aycock 43-36 in its playoff opener.

The JHS-Rocky Mount match started at heavyweight.

With the Cardinals down 33-31, 106-pound freshman Cameron Bates pinned Rocky Mount freshman Joshua Sherrod to give Jacksonville the decisive six points for the win.

“It was amazing,” JHS coach Brandon Akins said. “They knew what we had to do. We had two pretty tough teams out of the gate, being a second seed that’s how it goes. But this has been our goal all year, and we’re finally here so the guys are stepping up.

“When it came down to Cameron against the Rocky Mount 106 I knew we had really good shot because he works extremely hard. All of them wanted it. It definitely showed tonight.”

Jacksonville will take on Southern Nash (28-7), the No. 2 seed out of the Big East, which beat Cleveland and West Carteret, the No. 1 seed out of the Coastal Conference. In the other side of the East Regional semifinal bracket will be West Brunswick and Morehead.

West Brunswick (19-5) is the No. 1 seed out of the Waccamaw Conference while Morehead (19-6) is the top Mid-State Conference seed.

The site of the four-team regional semifinal will be set today.

n Croatan wins two: Croatan, which has won two of the last three NCHSAA 2-A dual team championships, rolled into the third round with lopsided victories in Kill Devil Hills.

The Cougars (30-4), the No. 1 seed out of the East Central 2-A Conference, rolled past Roanoke Rapids 62-18 and then whipped First Flight 60-10. First Flight had beaten Franklinton 42-24 to advance.

Croatan will face Corinth Holders (35-4) on Thursday in the East Regional semifinals, and the winner of that match will take on the survivor between North Pitt (23-3) and Topsail (31-7) for the right to advance to the state finals.

The site of Thursday’s match will be determined today.

n North Rowan 41, Dixon 28: North Rowan, the top-ranked 1-A team in the state in retrorankings.com’s coaches’ poll, edged Dixon in the opening round of the NCHSAA 1-A dual team championships.

The Bulldogs finish the season 21-6, although they, like the rest of the state’s wrestling teams, have the individual regionals next week.

Dixon trailed just 29-28 heading into the final two matches at 220 and heavyweight, but after losing at 220 and victory out of reach the Bulldogs forfeited heavyweight.

“We had them nervous,” coach Dal Tomlinson said. “But we came up a little short on some of them. The boys went at it, and we fought hard. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

“But I do give out a shout out to (freshman) Christian Yuhas because he went out there and went to work. I’m serious. He went out there to win and that’s all there is to it.”